1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and apparatus for operating a wagering system or lottery of the type used for sale of wagers or chances to customers. The game can be an instant game, immediate payout number matching game, or one wherein entries sold to customers are recorded at a central processor for later verification in the event of a win requiring a payout. In particular, the invention concerns such a wagering system wherein the chances and payouts are dispensed to customers from remote agent terminals which need not be in contemporaneous data communication with the central processor, secure transfer of information being made possible using a portable agent data module, preferably in the form of an integrated circuit card or "smartcard." The invention facilitates issue of available wagers to the agent terminals for potential sale, reporting of player entries back to the central processor, transmission of payout authorizations back to the agent terminals, payout security control, control of prize liability, dissemination of lottery information to retailers, transmission of invoicing information to retailers, and other functions.
2. Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,666 - Bergeron and U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,473 - Bergeron et al disclose the application of a data storage card, preferably an integrated circuit card or smartcard, to storage of player information in a lottery system. The smartcards are issued to players, for storage of value tokens as well as demographic information which is useful to the lottery operator for marketing purposes. The smartcard identifies a player and enables the player to purchase a balance to be applied against purchase of player entries, and to be credited upon wins. The card is a substantial convenience to players and to lottery operators because it is not necessary to enter manually a great deal of data in order to manage a play entry or a payout. The card, however, is not an operating element of the lottery system itself, and does not assist in communications needed between a central data processor (which issues play verifications) and the agent terminals (which accept wagers and authorize payouts). Furthermore, the amount of data storage required according to this technique is not large.
A smartcard in general is substantially the size of a credit card, yet has on-board a memory and a processor for accessing the memory and for managing communications. Coupling to the card for data transmission, and also for powering the card, is accomplished via conductor pads presented on the card surface or by inductive coupling to coils in the card. When the card is inserted in a terminal operable to interface with the card, the necessary data transmission and power supply connections are made by appropriate contact and/or interface elements in the terminal. Smartcards are most typically used as customer account cards for banking services or as pay-for-usage cards which store a balance to be debited when the card is used. For loading information (e.g., value credits or other data) and for unloading information (e.g., debiting the balance or reading the card contents), the processor on the smart card typically requires entry of a unique authorization code by the operator. If the correct code is not entered, the card is unusable, and may be arranged to disable itself in the event of an attempted unauthorized access or function. Smartcards according to this description are available from Thomson Components - Mostek Corporation, 1310 Electronics Drive, Carrollton, Tex. 75006.
A typical lottery system involves players correctly guessing which of various possible numbers will be randomly chosen as the winning combination. Terminals at remote locations operated by the lottery's agents engage in bidirectional data communication with a central data processor for each play entered. Each play must be properly entered in the pool of player entries, to have its respective chance at winning and to guard against the possibility of a fraudulent claim of a win. The terminal at which each play was entered is indexed to the play to enable the agent at that location to advise his customers to claim their winnings and also to guard against fraud. More than a hundred million player entries have been made in recent state sponsored lottery events. The player entry numbers for every play must be scrupulously recorded and verified for later confirmation in the event of a win, and in order to run a fair lottery.
The particular communications which might be required to effect a play entry and verification include a report from the agent terminal of a play entry and the numbers selected by the user. The central processor may answer back with a verification code and/or preferably repeats the play entry numbers back to the agent terminal to check the accuracy of reception. The numbers must be the same as printed by the agent terminal and as recorded at the central processor, because the player will rely on the printed lottery entry form. The particulars of each play entry must be communicated to a secure location where the entries can be recorded for later comparison with entries presented by players to claim winning prizes. Typically, these communications are handled over pulse code modulated radio or telephone lines, and accordingly, the transmission includes a code representing the identity of the agent terminal. The central processor normally assigns a serial number to an entry and records the particulars of the entry.
Traditionally, the "communications" undertaken in wagering systems amounted to carrying written records of play entries from a point of sale to a secure central location. Such written records are openly readable and are prone to loss or alteration. Accordingly, high speed contemporaneous bidirectional data communications have substantially replaced written records. Typically, an agent terminal at the point of sale is operated by a lottery agent to transmit player entry data to a central location and to accept a player entry verification from the central location indicating that the wager has been accepted and recorded, before the transaction is finalized by printing of a written record. This allows immediate sale of lottery entries and prevents problems with loss, delay or alteration of records needed to confirm (at a later time) the sale of a winning entry. When a player claims a winning prize, the data at the central location can be compared to the data presented by the player on the alleged winning entry form.
Where an agent terminal is in constant or intermittent data communication with the central processor (i.e., when communicating with the central processor regarding entry of a wager), the terminal is said to be "on-line". The maintenance of a data communication link between a central data processor and a plurality of remote agent terminals presents a certain overhead in that the hardware necessary to support data communication must be dependably operative, and security functions are needed to prevent a spurious player entry or payout instruction.
It is possible to operate agent terminals off-line, in a manner similar to the operation of a lottery based on written records. However, the immediate verification of player entries is not then available, and the record produced is merely a digital record which has substantially the same content, and the same drawbacks, as a handwritten record. The record (for example a magnetic tape) can be read and altered relatively easily.
The Pronostico lottery system in Mexico City, for example, formerly operated a lottery system accepting player entries at remote terminals, with off-line reporting of the accepted wagers to a central location, namely by transporting a magnetic tape record of the entries to the central location. This type of operation, which does not rely on contemporaneous communications with wager transactions, accommodates sales agents that for one reason or another are not equipped with data communication equipment for obtaining immediate on-line entry and verification of player entries. Off-line agent terminals are provided with data systems that store wagers on the magnetic tape. The player receives a portion of the lottery entry slip as a receipt after a serial number is assigned by the terminal and printed on the slip, and the remainder is saved for reference. The serial number is recorded on the magnetic tape with the wager. Magnetic tape cassettes with recorded plays are collected at the lottery headquarters some days prior to a lottery draw, whereupon the data is transferred onto the mainframe central data processor.
An off-line system as described places a certain reliance on the ability of the lottery system to protect the magnetic tape record. In addition, the agent terminal needed to record transaction data is nearly as complex and expensive as a terminal adapted for telephone or radio communication with the central location. Besides the processor normally required on the agent terminals to handle printing of lottery entry slips, it is necessary to provide hardware for accomplishing the magnetic tape recording. If the system is required to handle more than a single type of lottery game, a relatively sophisticated recording system is needed. A relatively large number of transactions can be recorded on magnetic tape, but to enable sufficient time to ensure transport of the magnetic tape cassette to the central location and entry of the data prior to the lottery prize drawing, two days of lead time are needed to collect and enter the data. The system does not handle short term drawings, e.g., daily three number drawings. Therefore, not only is an investment in hardware needed, but in addition, the delay in reporting is such that two days of potential sales in, e.g., every weekly drawing, are lost. These drawbacks are accompanied by a relatively lower level of security than obtained with an on-line wagering system.
Pronostico recently replaced its off-line lottery system with an on-line system wherein wagers are contemporaneously verified and logged at the central lottery location. However, when a converting an off-line system to an on-line system it may occur that not all of the off-line agents can be coupled into data communication with the on-line network. For example certain agents may be located in remote areas and it is often not practical, or cost effective, to provide the necessary hardware, perhaps including satellite communications, microwave relay stations, etc., which would enable contemporaneous communications with all potential agents or points of sale.
Lottery game rules vary substantially. In some forms of wagering systems, the lottery operator is exposed to potentially disastrous losses in particular instances. Accordingly, rules have developed allowing the lottery operator to limit the number of wagers accepted in these instances. For example, certain games are arranged to pay out preset prize amounts if a player-chosen number equals a randomly chosen number. To avoid potential extensive liability in such games, it is known to limit the number of chances available to be sold on popular numbers (e.g., "777") to avoid an unacceptable payout if the popular number is drawn. It is not possible to coordinate the sales made at a plurality of agent terminals by simply recording the transactions and reporting them to the central location prior to a drawing. This problem is aggravated by undue delay in reporting accepted wagers to the lottery central location.
There is a need to enable an off-line lottery agent to operate in substantially the same manner as an on-line agent, while reserving the necessary security and data capacity needed to handle wager acceptance recording, prompt verification and preferably payout management. The system should enable quick and secure reporting, but require a minimum of hardware as compared to an on-line lottery terminal system. According to the present invention, a data module is provided for bidirectional communication with both the central processor and the agent terminal. Bidirectional communication enables the link between the agent terminal and the agent data module to be quite secure, and the data module, preferably an integrated circuit card or smartcard, can independently protect security by automatically disabling itself when a breach of security or attempted breach of security is detected. The data uploaded or downloaded to the smartcard can be read and transmitted at the central processor location or at a limited number of agent access terminals or hub terminals which interface between the agent cards and the central processor. The agent access terminals or hubs can be provided at distributed locations, each available to a plurality of lottery agents, thereby obviating the need for contemporaneous communications while reducing the delay in reporting wagers to the central location. The agents can readily upload a record of wagers accepted and can obtain new wager sale authorization information and payout information on a daily basis. The agent data module is interactive and secure, preferably a smartcard or the like, and can be programmed to communicate to the agent terminals any limitations which may apply to acceptance of wagers The agent data module or smartcard can be stored with preset verifications as to potential wagers which are available and stored on the smartcard for sale. In this manner, the convenience and security of an on-line system can be combined with the low investment aspects of an off-line system, thereby improving the availability and security of lottery services to customers.